


Day Two: Hypothermia

by SimplyEssa



Series: Voltron Whump Week: 2017 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, But it's not a lot, But mostly angst, Cold Keith (Voltron), Crying, Day Two: Hypothermia, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hypothermic Character, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Low Key Pining Keith (Voltron), M/M, Not so low key pining lance, Protective Lance (Voltron), Tears, VLD Whump Week Day Two: Hypothermia, Worried Lance (Voltron), bot much tho, dunno, im sorry, very vague description of the blood?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2018-12-27 19:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12087882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyEssa/pseuds/SimplyEssa
Summary: oops?





	Day Two: Hypothermia

**Author's Note:**

> oops?

During their last mission, Red was completely and utterly destroyed.

He hadn't been fast enough to dodge the ion canon.

It had hit Red where the cockpit was situated, resulting in a completely and utterly destroyed Keith as well.

Well, according to a scared Lance, of course. 

Red had been pulled into a moon's atmosphere, causing Red and Keith to crash land.

Lance had found him in there with a broken spine, a shredded left arm with burns covering it, a major concussion, and a gaping hole in his stomach. 

Apparently, Keith had confessed his love for Lance during that time, which they had a good, long talk about when he came out of the pod.

It was very awkward. 

But now, Allura always sent them on routine missions together. It may have been the fact that they work really well together, but Keith didn't care. He was with Lance. It was fine. 

It had been a few days since they had crashed- a painful reminder to Lance that Keith had almost died. Red would've been fixed by now, but they were missing a few pieces- The symbolgia wire, and the symbolgia linaopwre.

Keith wasn't sure what the linaopwre was, but it sounded important.

Keith and Lance were going to Symbolgiacna to collect those items, taking Blue, because, well. Red is...

Yeah.

Allura had told them that the Sym's absolutely hated gays- they were extremely homophobic.

It may not have been the smartest to send the boyfriends.

When the Sym's had found out that two of their female citizens were dating, they had drowned them in eachothers blood.

Keith was regretting accepting the job.

They had flown to the planet in a comfortable silence, Keith draped over Lance's chair, his arms hanging loosely over Lance's chest. He hoped Lance didn't notice the slight tremor in his body.

"Hey," Lance said softly, titling his head up so he could look Keith in the eye. "You okay?"

Keith nodded. 

Lance gave him an unimpressed look as he hovered outside of the planet.

Keith sighed. Lance could read him like an open book. He shook his head. "What... what if they find out? What if- what if they kill you? What if they make you some sort of slave? What if they make me kill-?"

Lance cut him off with a quick kiss. "None of that'll happen, babe. We'll be fine."

"If you say so," Keith muttered.

Neither of them knew Lance would come to regret those words.

* * *

They were told to land Blue in a hangar that was hidden underneath a mountain of snow. Keith figured he'd freeze to death if he weren't in Blue, even with the heat in his suit pushed up to maximum.

When landed, they were greeted by the Sym's- they were twice their size, towering over Keith and Lance. They were a mix of pink, blue, white and brown. They had two eyes each- one rainbow, and one the bisexual flag. Keith snorted- real ironic. They had two arms and legs, a blue beak, and a red tail. If you ignored the beak and tail, they'd look like humans.

"Welcome," A blue one came forward, hands clasped behind its back as they eyed Keith and Lance warily. Keith refused to squirm under their gaze. "Paladins, I am Jenloo. We were told by Princess Allura that you needed a few wires for your Castle Ship?" 

Keith nodded. They had told them part of the Castle was broken, not risking the chance of telling them they couldn't form Voltron. He took a step forward, ignoring the glare he was receiving from a white alien.

"Yes. We were hoping you cou-" The white alien growled, jumping on Keith and knocking him to the ground. Keith grunted as his head met the ground. Even with the helmet, wow, that hurt. Blinking the stars out of his vision, he struggled weakly at the claws wrapping around his wrist. They were pinned above his head as another clawed hand wrapped around his throat, cutting off his air flow.

"Get off of him!" Lance shouted from somewhere above him. Keith couldn't see him over the alien- but it didn't matter- he was going to die and Lance was going to die and he was going to have to kill Lance and blow his brains out and he's so damn scared- _why_ did he accept this job-

The alien was thrown off of him, the claws letting go of his wrist and neck. Keith gasped, hands moving to push himself into an upright position. 

A hand entered his field of vision, outstretched and tense. Taking in a large gulp of air, he looked up, catching Lance's partially worried and pissed off expression.

Keith took the unspoken offer gratefully, hauling himself to his feet with Lance's help.

When he was stable on his feet, he realized he was shaking slightly. Not enough to be noticed by the Sym's, but not enough to be dismissed by Lance.

"You okay?" Lance asked quietly.

Keith remained silent, watching the white Sym glare at him and yell profanities at him in his native tongue.

Lance stepped into his vision, catching Keith's gaze and blocking the white Sym. "You're bleeding," Lance muttered, hands touching his neck. 

"'m not," Keith mumbled, avoiding Lance's eyes. He didn't want to talk about it.

Lance huffed, pulling his hands back. He showed his fingers to Keith. The former black gloves now had red on them.

"Oh," Keith blinked, reaching up to touch his neck. Unable to stop himself, he hissed in pain, pulling his hands away. "Guess it's claws broke my skin," he shrugged.

"We'll get it fixed up, okay? You just gotta wait a few more minutes-"

"Deepest apologies, Red Paladin. We are..." Looking into Jenloo's eyes, it looked like he was... angry? Lance turned to face Keith again, seemingly giving him a worried look. He saw it too. "Unsure, yes, of why Wymm has attacked you. Hopefully, that can be put behind us as we bring you to the pieces you need?"

It was quiet for a few moments. Lance looked at Keith, signalling him to answer her. Oh.

"Of course," Keith plastered on a fake smile. "Lead the way."

Jenloo nodded, turning around and disappearing behind a huge set of double doors. Lance and Keith followed, two guards on their right and left, and three behind them.

They walked in a tense silence, Keith's hand hovering over his bayard the entire time. He knew something was wrong- they found out, they were going to kill Lance-

"Hey," Lance said softly, brushing their shoulders together. "Calm down. We'll be fine."

"Okay," Keith sighed, knowing Lance was right and he was just being paranoid-

"Paladins," Jenloo stopped in between two doors. "I am sorry, but unless the technology you are going to use has some sort of quintessence in it, they are not able to be near eachother. One of you must go in this room," Jenloo gestured to his left. "To collect the symbolgia wire. The other will enter this one," he gestured to his right, "to collect the symbolgia  linaopwre."

"We... we have to split up?" Lance asked slowly, emphasizing every syllable.

"Unfortunately, yes. It is the only way that you will not die."

Keith didn't like this. His fingers twitched to grab his bayard-

"Alright," Lance stepped forward, going in front of Keith. He glared at Lance's back. "I'll take the right."

Jenloo nodded, pressing his palm on the pad of the door. It opened with a quiet hiss, revealing a room filled with wires and technology. "It is blue, glowing, and has a claw at the end of it."

"Thanks," Lance muttered, stepping into the room. With one last look, the door shut behind him, leaving Keith alone with the Sym's.

Keith took a step forward, prepared to take the other room and find the wire-

"Did you really think you could hide it from us?" Jenloo hissed, stepping into Keith's personal space.

Keith swallowed harshly, blinking in fake confusion. "H-hide what?"

Jenloo laughed bitterly, motioning to his guards. Keith tensed, activating his bayard. " _Skehml, jodysm_."

Keith isn't sure what he just said, but it sounded a lot like 'seize him'.

Before he could react, something grabbed his helmet, pulling it off. With a suppressed flinch, he turned on his heel, raising his bayard-

Something hard met his head, and his vision went black.

* * *

The first thing Keith noticed was the cold.

It was freezing.

But... he was numb? And... kind of cold?

Keith groaned weakly, eyes fluttering open as he tried, and failed, to push himself into a sitting position. His arms shook under his weight, screaming at him to stop because _ow, it hurts, ow._

His vision finally cleared, he realized he was laying in snow, with nothing but his undersuit on.   
He had a feeling he should be cold... but he wasn't. Not really. He didn't know why. It probably wasn't good. He vaguely remembered some course from the Garrison about Hypothermia, and how you should never lie down during a snow storm or whatever because it was certain death, but he just... he was tired... and he wanted... to sle...

No- no. Keith mentally slapped himself, forcing himself to wake up. If they had known Keith was gay ans dating a boy, they would know about Lance. 

With a new found determination, he grit his teeth, trying to push himself off of the waist deep snow- wow, that's deep- He got to his knees when everything started spinning. He blinked away the dizziness and nausea, blaming it on the potential hypothermia he had. He got to his feet with a groan, shoving his hands in his armpits to keep them warm, even if he couldn't feel the coldness.

How long has he been out here for?

He looked around slowly, _weakly_ , careful not to hurt anything else-

"Keith!"

It was distant, but it was there.

He turned around frantically, looking for any sign of Lance-

Just as he saw that familiar speck of blue, his knees gave out, forcing him to collapse back into the snow.

The cold burnt his skin, pulling a weak groan from his throat. "L-Lance," he tried to yell, or- or something, but all he could manage was a breathy whisper.

"Keith, where are you?!" 

Lance was getting closer.

It was still far, but close enough that he could... could...

His eyelids fluttered shut on their own accord.

_No- no! Get up, you lazy piece of shit! Help Lance! He could be- get up, get up, get up-!_

Boots crunching in the snow pulled Keith from his thoughts, but he still couldn't open his eyes. He was ... numb. Everything was numb.

"Keith! Keith, wake up!" Lance was grabbing his arm, pulling him up.

Keith groaned in response, trying to peel his eyes open-

The best he could get was a blurred vision.

It was still enough to see Lance's not hurt and worried expression, unshed tears glazing his eyes.

"D...don't..." Keith mumbled, tongue heavy. It felt like he couldn't lift... lift... What was he thinking?

His brain was like it was glazed over, a thick cloud settling over every memory, making him unable to remember why... why he was here. Was he hit in the head?

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

Something hard met his face. He gasped sharply, eyes flying open. "W...?" He tried to lift a hand to his cheek, but it was just... hard... and he was... tired...

"Hey! No! Don't sleep!" Keith felt himself be pulled to his feet. He tried to help Lance, but all he could do was groan and bury his face in Lance's neck when he stumbled. "Okay. Okay, Lance, you've got this, it's okay, just a hypothermic, concussed boyfriend nothing can go wrong-"

"'ance," Keith mumbled. His tongue felt heavy. "'m cold."

"I know, I know-" He felt something warm slide beneath his knees. "Just- don't sleep, okay? You'll be fine, you'll be fine-" An arm wrapped around his shoulders and he lost the mostly solid snow beneath him. Was he flying?

"...m'head hurts," Keith grumbled, curling into the warmth surrounding him. 

"I know. I saw it all, baby," Keith tiredly opened his eyes (when had he closed them?), trying to figure out how he was flying-

Oh.

Lance was carrying him.

He's so pathetic.

"You're not pathetic," Lance scowled above him, eyes set on something in the distance- but Keith couldn't see it. Everything was blurry... and numb...

"Where..." Keith mumbled, shifting so he could wrap an arm around Lance's neck, despite how much it hurt. "Red..?"

"She's a little broken, remember?" Lance answered, shivering a little bit.

"Are yo' c'ld?" Keith asked, voice slurring. 

"Not really. I-I've got my armour on, along with the little heater thingy, and Blue's keeping me warm somehow."

"Wish Red could do that..." Keith muttered, even though he didn't really _feel_ cold. That was probably a bad sign. He should tell Lance- no, no need to worry him more.

They walked in a comfortable silence, but it did not help Keith stay awake one bit. Slowly, his eyes slid closed, as the arm around Lance's neck went limp and his head dropped onto his shoulder.

"You're not shivering," Lance mentioned, snapping Keith from sleep. "Baby?"

Keith groaned weakly, hopefully transmitting the message of ' _shut up, I want to sleep.'_

"It's not good if you're not cold. Please tell me you're cold," Lance had a frown on his face, but wasn't looking at Keith. He was looking st something blue... A new found determination set in his eyes and he started running, jostling Keith to the bones in the process.

"N'pe," Keith smiled, happy he couldn't feel it. "No c'ld."

"Shit, that's- Okay- _Blue_!" He screamed, much too loudly for Keith's taste.

Something roared in the distance, which only caused Keith to curl up as much as he could and whimper, because it was loud- it was too loud- stop it, it hurts-

The roaring stopped, as if reading his thoughts, but the snow was starting to move around them-

"Keith! Keith, baby, stay awake, _please_ -"

The last thing he remembered was Lance's panicked face and a warmth surrounding him before everything went black.

* * *

Keith woke up slowly, body surrounded by warmth and a comforting growl in the back of his head. There was something fuzzy over him, covering him from head to toe. He smiled sleepily, curling into whoever was under him. He didn't really care, they were warm, and the thing on him was warm, and he was _freezing_ -

Wait- no, that couldn't be right. The last thing he remembered- Lance was scared, and he was numb. Why was he scared?

Tiredly, he blinked his eyes open, trying to force the blurry world to focus. 

Once he was satisfied, he tilted his head upwards, vaguely noticing that his head didn't hurt, and saw Lance above him, eyes closed and lips parted.

He looked so cute like that, Keith wanted to hold him forever if just to keep him like that-

"Huh?" Lance slurred, smacking his lips together and opening his eyes. He looked at Keith, breaking out into a wide, tired, smile as he saw that Keith was awake. "Hey," Lance said softly, rubbing his shoulders. Keith smiled and closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. "How you feeling?"

"C-cold," he muttered, pulling his knees up to his chest. 

Lance snorted, patting his back. "Yeah, that would make sense," He sat up, ignoring Keith's whiny protests, grabbed a cup of something steaming and gave it to Keith. "Here. Drink this."

Keith eyed it suspiciously, fiddling with Lance's pants under the blanket. "What is it?"

"An Altean slash Hunk hot chocolate. It's safe, and so fucking good," Lance said, offering him the cup.

With a last wary glance, Keith groaned, getting help from Lance as he sat up. He took the drink with shaking hands, which he couldn't see, due to a navy green sleeve that went past his fingers. "What..?" He mumbled, looking at his arms. They looked familiar- He looked at Lance, who was smiling brightly at him, but had nervousness in his eyes. He had his normal blue and white shirt on- wait. Keith blinked harshly, trying to force his eyes to see straight. It still wasn't there. "Where's your jacket?"

Lance winked at him, then tilted his head downwards. Keith let him, letting the cup warm his cold hands. On his body was a navy green, military style jacket with a white hoodie underneath. He smiled, trying to hide his blush with his hair. "Oh," He brought the cup to his lips. "Thanks."

"No problem, baby," Lance wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. Keith sighed contentedly, resting his head on Lance's shoulder with his legs tucked beside him. Lance dragged a fuzzy, blue comforter over them as he rested his head on Keith's. 

Soon enough, Keith's glass was half full, and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"Sleep," Lance said.

Keith obliged happily, letting the darkness consume him, full of warmth and love.

**Author's Note:**

> jesus that took a while  
> hoped you liek the fluff- jesus christ i love dit lmfao  
> HURT KEITH IS A DRUG AND IM HIGH ON IT  
> JOIN ME  
> BECOME AN ADDICT


End file.
